Marco Kroon

The Public Prosecutor is dropping an investigation into decorated soldier Marco Kroon, who said that he killed a man who abducted him while on a mission in Afghanistan. The investigation has yet to provide a definitive answer, but there are insufficient leads to confirm whether or not what Kroon reported actually happened, the Public Prosecutor said on Thursday, NOS reports.

After a year long investigation, the Ministry of Defense found no evidence that decorated soldier Marco Kroon was kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2007 and afterwards killed his abductor. The Defense leaders therefore take into account that Kroon - at least partly - fabricated the story, the Volkskrant reports based on conversations with 13 people who were involved in the secret mission in Kabul, or have knowledge about the Defense investigation into this incident.

Two former employees of Dutch military intelligence service MIVD fear for their lives after decorated soldier Marco Kroon revealed details about a secret operation in Afghanistan to the media, they said to Nieuwsuur.

The two former intelligence workers, who are of Afghan origin but have been living in the Netherlands for years, asked to remain anonymous, according to Nieuwsuur. They are preparing a lawsuit against the Ministry of Defense, with which they hope to force the Ministry to help them build a new life elsewhere in Europe.

Decorated Dutch soldier Marco Kroon says that he had no choice but to kill a man while on a secret mission in Afghanistan in 2017. He was previously captured and tortured by the man he eventually killed, he said in an interview with newspaper AD. "It was him or me."

Kroon was previously captured by the man and was tortured for information, he said to the newspaper. According to him, he did not reveal anything. After he was released for unknown reasons, he went looking for the man because Kroon wanted to prevent the man endangering the mission.

The Public Prosecutor launched an investigation into Dutch soldier Marco Kroon using violence during a secret operation in Afghanistan in 2007, Kroon's lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops announced on Wednesday. Kroon was awarded the Militaire Willems-Orde, the highest military award in the Netherlands, in 2009 for his efforts in Afghanistan, newspaper AD reports.

Kroon says he reported the incident to Defense last year. Defense gave it through to the Public Prosecutor last week, which now launched an investigation.

King Willem-Alexander will knight Major Gijs Tuinman later this year, making him a member of the Military Order of Willem fourth class, the office of the Dutch king announced today. The country’s highest honour will be given to Major Tuinman in a December 4 ceremony at the Binnenhof government complex in the Hague.